Regulation on irrigation and hydropower project-related compensation, support and resettlement

(Promulgated together with the Prime Minister's Decision No. 34/2010/OD-TTg of April 8, 2010)

Chapter 1 GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope and subjects 1. Scope

a/ This Regulation applies to irrigation and hydropower project-related compensation, support and resettlement, except for projects funded with official development assistance (ODA);

b/ Apart from the provisions of this Regulation, the compensation, support and resettlement also comply with the Government's Decree No. 197/2004/ND-CP of December 3, 2004, on compensation, support and resettlement when the State recovers land (below referred to as Decree No. 197/2004/ND-CP); Decree No. 17/2006/ND-CP of January 27, 2006, amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Decrees guiding the implementation of the Land Law and Decree No. 187/2004/ND-CP, on transformation of state-run companies into joint-stock companies; Decree No. 84/2007/ND-CP of May 25, 2007, additionally prescribing the grant of land use right certificates, the land recovery, the exercise of land use rights, the compensation, support and resettlement order and procedures when the State recovers land and the settlement of land-related complaints (below referred to as Decree No. 84/2007/ND-CP); Decree No. 69/2009/ND-CP of August 13. 2009 additionally prescribing the land use planning, land prices, land recovery, compensation, support and resettlement (below referred to as Decree No. 69/2009/ND-CP); and other current relevant provisions of law.

2. Subjects of application: Organizations, households, individuals and population communities whose land (in reservoir bed areas, sites for the construction of dams, key works and auxiliary facilities and places for the construction of resettlement quarters or spots) is recovered and whose assets attached to the recovered land are dismantled (collectively referred to as persons whose land is recovered) for the implementation of irrigation or hydropower projects.

Article 2. Interpretation of terms

1. Irrigation or hydropower project zones include submerged reservoir bed areas, sites for the construction of dams, key works and auxiliary facilities and places for the construction of resettlement quarters.

2. Resettlement households means households (including households with a single member and households with two or more members) and organizations operating under Vietnamese law in irrigation or hydropower project zones that are directly affected and have to move to new places of residence.

3. Concentrated resettlement households means resettlement households planned to move to a new place that forms a new residential spot.

5. Voluntary resettlement households means resettlement households that move by themselves to new places of residence with local inhabitants in a residential spot.

6. Resettlement spot means a residential spot built under planning for re-settlers.

7. Resettlement quarter means a place planned for two or more resettlement spots.

Article 3. General principles for compensation, support and resettlement

1. To ensure that resetters have places of residence, stable life and conditions to develop production, raise incomes and incrementally complete infrastructure and that their material and spiritual lives become increasingly improved compared to their former places of residence and permanently stable, contributing to boosting local socio-economic development and security and defense.

2. To harmonize interests between resettlers and local inhabitants; to ensure democracy, publicity, fairness, transparency, proper purposes, proper persons and effectiveness in the process of implementation.

Chapter II

COMPENSATIONS FOR RECOVERED LAND

Article 4. Compensation principles

1. Land users whose land is recovered for the implementation of irrigation or hydropower projects are entitled to compensations under Articles 14 and 16 of Decree No. 69/2009/ND-CP.

2. To handle land value differences between places of departure and places of destination

a/ If the value of allocated residential and production land is lower than the value of recovered residential and production land, resettlement households are entitled to the value difference;

b/ If the value of allocated residential and production land is higher than the value of recovered residential and production land, resettlement households are not required to pay the value difference.

3. Other cases

a/ For semi-submerged land: Semi-submerged land in reservoir beds which is formed after the creation of reservoirs and belongs to common land funds will be allocated to communes for management and use according to current law;

b/ In case resettlement households with production land located above the submerged reservoir bed level that move to places of residence far from their former places of production, their production land in the former places of residence will be recovered and they are entitled to compensations under Clause 1 of this Article.

Recovered production land areas shall be allocated to local administrations for management and use according to current regulations.

c/ In case protection or special-use forest land which has been allocated by the State to organizations for management which have then subcontracted such land to other organizations, households and individuals for forest regeneration, tending and protection or forestation with state budget funds under package contracts, is recovered by the State, those households and individuals are entitled to compensations for plants on such land but not for the land. Compensation levels will be equivalent to product-sharing levels provided in Joint Circular No. 80/2003/TTLT/BNN-BTC of September 3, 2003, of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, guiding the implementation of the Prime Minister's Decision No. 178/2001/QD-TTg of November 12, 2001, on interests and obligations of households and individuals allocated, leased or contracted forests and forest land.

1. In case persons whose land is recovered possess valid papers showing their land areas and meet conditions for compensations for recovered land, they are entitled to compensations calculated based on recovered land areas.

2. In case persons whose land is recovered meet conditions for compensations for recovered land but their papers fail to clearly show their land areas, land areas used for compensation calculation shall be determined according to written certifications signed by the commune administration, chairman of the Ground Clearance and Compensation Council and land user concerned.

Land areas used for compensation calculation shall be prescribed by provincial- level People's Committees on the basis of local land allocation plans and quotas.

Chapter III

COMPENSATIONS FOR PROPERTY DAMAGE

Article 6. Compensations for houses and works constructed on land together with houses

1. Resettlement households defined in Clause 2, Article 1 of this Regulation are entitled to compensations for loss of houses, auxiliary works and architectural objects attached to houses under Article 24 of Decree No. 69/2009/ND-CP.

2. Households and individuals that have received forests (excluding special-use forests) under protection or regeneration contracts and built huts or sheds on the contracted land with written consent of contractors and registered them with local commune People's Committees are entitled to compensations therefor. Areas eligible for compensation must not exceed 200 m2 of flooring area.

Article 7. Compensations for public work damage

1. Public works built with state budget funds which are to be dismantled and need not to be built in new places according to planning are not entitled to compensation; if they have been built with people's labor, materials and money, provincial-level People's Committees shall decide on specific compensation levels.

2. Public works built with funds contributed by collectives or people will be compensated for damage. Compensation levels comply with Clause 1, Article 6 of this Regulation.

3. Localities which have their infrastructure facilities kept intact or partially or wholly relocated or damaged are entitled to have their infrastructure facilities renovated, upgraded or constructed by investors according to planning to serve their production and daily life.

a/ For trees which have not yet been harvested and can be moved to places of resettlement, transport and re-planting expenses will be compensated. The maximum compensation level must not exceed the costs of investment in new garden tree planting.

b/ For perennial trees with many years of garden construction and annual harvest in subsequent years (production and business period), compensations shall be paid as follows:

- Tree gardens currently in the period of construction: Compensations shall be paid for the costs of construction investment determined based on the actual investment value (including planting and tending costs) by the time of compensation;

- Tree gardens currently in the production and business period: Compensations shall be paid for earnings from tree gardens, calculated as equal to the average revenue of the three latest years from the tree gardens (in the production and business period) multiplied by the number of years of the (remaining) production and business period of the tree gardens.

After receiving compensations, households may continue harvesting products until the project land is officially recovered for use.

a/ Households that are allocated land and plant forests with their own money: Compensation levels for their planted forests will be calculated as equal to the planted forest area multiplied by (x) the forestation unit price and added with (+) the costs of forest tending and protection from the time of forestation to the time of approval of the compensation scheme;

b/ Households who plant and tend forests for organizations under contracts shall be compensated under Point c, Clause 3, Article 4 of this Regulation;

c/ For production and business forests reaching the time of harvest, forest owners may exploit them and are not entitled to any compensations.

4. For animals raised on land with water surface, compensations shall be paid under Clause 5, Article 24 of Decree No. 197/2004/ ND-CP.

Chapter

IV SUPPORT POLICIES

Article 9. Supports for the construction of houses

Concentrated resettlement households, mingled resettlement households and local households whose land is recovered for the construction of resettlement quarters will, apart from receiving compensations for their houses, auxiliary works and architectural objects affixed to houses in their former places of residence as provided for in Article 6 of this Regulation, be entitled to pecuniary supports for building new houses. The support level per lawful household member is equivalent to the cost of construction of 5 m2 of flooring area. The house structure used for calculating the support level is that of a grade-IV house (under the criteria set by the Ministry of Construction).

Specific support levels shall be prescribed by provincial-level People's Committees.

Article 10. Supports for life stabilization

1. Food support

a/ A lawful member of a household with residential and production land wholly recovered which has to move to a new place of residence will be provided with food support for 48 months.

b/ Households with 30% to 70% of lawfully used (allocated or contracted), agricultural production land recovered will be provided with food support for 24 months; households with over 70% of their agricultural production land (assigned or contracted) recovered will be provided with food support for 36 months.

c/ The per-head support level defined at Points a and b of this Clause is equivalent to 30 kg of rice/household member/month, The rice price will be the average local price at the time of support provision.

2. Medical support

Each lawful member of a resettlement household will be provided with medical support once at new places. The support level will be VND 30,000/household member. In case of fluctuations in medicine prices, provincial-level People's Committees will prescribe specific support levels.

3. Educational support

Children of resettlement households who are following general education at all levels will each be provided with a pecuniary support equivalent to the price of a set of textbooks; be exempt from school fee in the first school year at the new places of residence and exempt from contributions to school construction for 3 consecutive school years from the time they start their schooling in the new places of residence.

4. Lighting support

Each lawful member of a resettlement household will be provided with lighting support in the first year (from the date of moving to new place of residence). The support level is equivalent to 1.5 liters of kerosene/member/ month.

5. Fuel support

Each lawful member of a resettlement household will be provided with fuel support in the first year (from the date of moving to new place of residence). The support level is equivalent to 3 liters of kerosene/member/month.

a/ For annual crops, a support of 100% of funds for purchasing new strains, inorganic fertilizers and insecticides in two harvests will be provided. The support level will be calculated based on the acreage of allocated production land and kinds of crop under planning;

b/ For perennial and industrial trees, a support of 20-50% of investment costs, including: strains, planting labor, tending labor, inorganic fertilizers and insecticides. The support level must not exceed 1 ha/household and will depend on the technical process applied to each kind of trees under planning.

2. Husbandry support: A resettlement household will be provided a lump-sum pecuniary support for purchasing 2 ordinary breed porkers of 10 kg/head and one 10 month-old beef calf of local breed;

3. Production forest planting support: In addition to the support levels defined in the Prime Minister's Decision No. 147/2007/QD-TTg of September 10. 2007, on a number of policies for development of production forests in the 2007-2015 period, resettlement households will be provided with a support of 50% of a forestation investment portion (calculated for a hybrid acacia production cycle of between 5 and 7 years). The support level must not exceed 2 ha/household;

4. Resettlement households will be provided with training, technical guidance and support in building cultivation and husbandry models according to approved production schemes. The support levels comply with Joint Circular No. 102/2007/TTLT/BTC-BLDTBXH of August 20. 2007, of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs;

1. Resettlement households will be provided with supports for visits to resettlement spots, including travel fares, meals and accommodation during the visits.

2. Funding support for carrying out procedures to move from their old houses and receive their new houses: The support level will be VND 300,000/household (lump-sum support).

3. Encouragement of ahead-of-time relocation: Households that move according to plans and schedules notified by the Compensation Councils will receive a lump-sum pecuniary reward not exceeding VND 5,000.000/ household.

4. Support for policy households: Households with members currently enjoying the State's social relief regime under the Government's Decree No. 07/2000/ND-CP of March 9. 2000. and relevant regulations will be provided with a lump-sum support of VND 2,000.000/ beneficiary.

5. For ethnic minority people who are not accustomed to grave removal will be provided with a lump-sum support for holding traditional spiritual ceremonies. The specific support level will be prescribed by provincial-level People's Committees.

Chapter V

RESETTLEMENT

Article 13. Resettlement planning

1. For a population relocation and resettlement compensation project to be executed in two or more districts or involving 300 or more resettlement households (both at places of departure and destination), a master plan on population relocation and resettlement shall be formulated before a detailed plan is drawn up.

2. For a population relocation and resettlement compensation project to be executed in one district or involving under 300 resettlement households, only a detailed plan on resettlement spots is required to be made.

3. The master and detailed plans on population relocation and resettlement must satisfy the following requirements:

a/ Conforming to the master plans on socio­economic development and sectoral development of each region and locality;

b/ Ensuring adequate production land for resettlement households with revenues coming largely from agricultural production, calculated based on the minimum production land acreage specified in Clause 1, Article 2 of Decision No. 134/2004/QD-TTg of July 20, 2004, and Points b and c, Article 3 of Decision No. 198/2007/QD-TTg of December 31, 2007, of the Prime Minister;

c/ Having adequate water sources for production and daily life and ensuring environmental sanitation of resettlement quarters and spots;